What Is a Skip Level Meeting and Why Have Them?

What Is A Skip Level Meeting?

A skip level meeting is a meeting you hold with other employees other than personnel you manage directly. Let’s say you manage five managers who manage 50 other employees (10 each). Generally, you can get updates and reports from the five managers under your direct supervision. 

Holding a meeting with one of the 50 employees is what skip level meetings are about. As the name suggests, it involves skipping one level (of management) to find out what’s happening. Skip-level meetings allow managers of managers to get out of the comfort zone and “good” reports. The objective is to determine how folks really feel about the job, company, and other aspects.

Senior managers and CEOs should write clear agendas and questions to get their insights. These meetings should also feature potential benefits for the employees. 

Skip Level Meeting Questions 

A skip level staff meeting should feature enough questions to steer the agenda. Some questions seek to build rapport, while others involve gathering feedback about the managers and organization. Here are nine questions to include in your meeting:

1. What led you to this organization, team, or role, and what’s your favorite thing about being here?
2. Where do you see yourself in the next year? What about three years? Do you have something else to do outside work?
3. What are some of your recent proud achievements? What inspired you and why?
4. Do you feel successful in your role? How do you measure success, and how can you become more successful?
5. What’s the best part of working with your manager? What situations would you handle differently if in the role of your manager?   
6. What do you love about the organization’s culture? Which organization values do you think we uphold? What would you rather do away with?
7. Do you have observations you think I might not see from my position? Have you had any concerns or disappointments about the leadership within the past year?
8. What do you think of current company goals? Do you feel your role contributes to these goals? What ideas do you have for your team or the organization?
9. How effective do you think the management team handles current issues and demands? What processes would you fix, and why?

Skip Level Meeting Purpose

Senior managers and CEOs should ponder purpose before arranging a meeting. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I need a skip level meeting? 
• What will I benefit from an in-person or virtual meeting with a staff member?
• How can I use information gathered from the meeting?

Skip-level meetings between senior managers and staff have a crucial role if appropriately designed. Such arrangements offer eye-opening insights and cultivate stronger bonds between personnel. 

Skip level virtual meetings can result in a universal understanding of company visions and priorities. They also create an open environment for idea sharing, innovation, and increased employee engagement. Here are the four primary purposes of a skip level staff meeting:

Building Relationships/Rapport with Staff Members

Senior managers usually get reports from immediate personnel under their management. Skipping the levels to speak with other staff members is one way to build strong relationships and a rapport with the lower-level personnel.

Gaining Insights into Your Teams and Organization 

Skip level meetings usually feature questions pondering the general perspective of employees and team on specific subject matters. CEOs can determine what teams are up to and how they feel about the organization and their roles.

Collecting Feedback about Managers under You

Managers can refine their reports to impress you, choosing to avoid contentious issues down the hierarchy. Skip level meetings seek to bypass managers to get feedback from individual team members. Senior managers can learn more about those they manage, which is crucial for development and performance improvement.

Allows Senior managers to briefly get into the weeds of the business

Skipping the manager and going directly to his team gives the senior manager the opportunity to get into the weeks for a brief period to really get a better picture of the organization. This also helps to give insight into any potential problems that are lurking beneath the surface that the manager has not noticed. It also allows the senior manager to better understand whats happening “in the field”.

Skip Level Meeting Agenda

Agendas drive workplace meetings, so it’s crucial to develop questions aligned with the main agendas. Sessions can progress into deep conversations about various issues, concerns, and topics. Writing a meeting agenda ensures you stay on course and gather valuable feedback.

You can brainstorm a few questions you’d like to ask the staff member and align them with your objectives. Once you are comfortable with the agenda, send them over to the employee to get their input.

You can also add more questions the employee suggests. Tools like Meetingforgoals.com allow managers of managers to set questions and get feedback from staff members before the actual meeting.

Developing skip-level agendas starts with identifying the areas/topics for which you seek feedback. Here are two crucial parts of every skip level meeting agenda:

Establishing Rapport

It’s naïve to expect employees to provide honest responses from the start. One on one meeting is more like employee surveys. Your staff may tweak their feedback for fear of upsetting their employers. 

Managers of managers should include a few questions to gain trust and build a rapport with the staff. These questions should be at the beginning of the session to ease any tensions and help employees feel more comfortable.

Feedback on Issues/Concerns

The goal of skip level meetings is to gather feedback about various topics, issues, and concerns. Senior managers can include questions to figure out employee challenges, career direction, company concerns, and more.

Recommendations

A skip level meeting should result in a way forward and solutions for navigating identified issues and concerns. Questions seeking recommendations should come towards the end of the session. Make sure you discuss the next steps, key takeaways, and future meetings.

Minutes/Reports

You can use a meeting agenda template featuring sections for note-taking to avoid missing out on critical feedback. Taking minutes of meeting is also vital for planning future sessions. You can keep track of agendas, issues/concerns, and shifting perspectives for more insights.

How Often Should Skip Level Meetings Occur?

There’s no standard frequency for scheduling skip level meetings. Senior managers have a tighter schedule and may not have the time to meet all employees within a week or a month. 

Some CEOs meet with staff once every quarter. If you have 10 to 20 employees, you can set aside a week to complete quarterly meetings. However, if you have more than 200 employees, achieving bi-annual meetings with each member may be overwhelming.

Managers of managers should assess their calendars and staff availability to schedule at least one or two meetings with every staff every year. If you have fewer employees, you can increase the frequency of meetings.

Concerning the duration of each meeting, it’s advisable to keep them short and straight to the subject matter. Thirty minutes is often enough for most managers, but you can schedule up to an hour or more to avoid rushing through issues. 

Tools to Help with Skip Level Meetings

Many tools are available for senior managers and CEOs looking to organize successful meetings. You can use a meeting agenda template or download a simple structure to record the minutes of meeting. 

Senior Managers may want to use tools like Zoom or Google Meet to have virtual meetings which essentially saves them time. There are many great tools out there to facilitate meetings.

Other tools are more sophisticated and offer advanced capabilities. A great example is Meetingforgoals.com, which offers detailed insight into employee perspectives, ideas, and productivity. The tool is also perfect for scheduling and managing skip-level meetings.

With meetingforgoals.com, you can forget useless meetings that don’t advance the organization’s goals. The software makes it easier to align meetings with company goals and set up meaningful agendas.

You can also allocate action and responsibility to save time. What do you think about skip level meetings? Share your experiences with us or sign up for more about leveraging skip-level meetings and virtual meetings.